How Exact

Modern personal computers - is extremely delicate and complicated technique.Sometimes, only one tiny problem that the PC has started to work with "glitches" or stopped working altogether.Do not panic and run headlong into a service center.It is possible that damage to your computer, you can easily remove yourself completely.However, before you grab for a soldering iron, it should be diagnose problems.

All faults can be divided into hardware and software .In the first case, the "culprits" problems are computer accessories: power supply, hard drive, motherboard, video card, etc.In the second case, the "inappropriate behavior" of the computer due to software problems.

identify the cause of software failure is simple enough.A characteristic feature is the "hanging" of the computer only on a particular program, while the other (even like) your computer is working properly.If the "glitches" occur no matter which program is in operation, the time taken for the special programs - utilities.

utility (Eng. Utility or tool) - a computer program that extends the standard capabilities of hardware and operating systems that performs a narrow range of specific tasks.There are a number of tools designed to test the health of the working elements of the computer.Most of these tools are free and available for download from the developer's site.

good tool for the diagnosis of computer "bugs" - is S & amp; M (see. Fig. 1).S & amp; M allows you to check the system memory and the graphics card ATI / Nvidia.It is necessary to install this utility and after its launch configure test.Set the "slider" for a long time test mode, set the "tick" in accordance with the test equipment (you can check all the equipment at once).Use the instructions to install the utility test settings, bringing them closer to the maximum rigors of the equipment.Run the test for a few hours (2-3).If the problem is in RAM or graphics card, the test will reveal this problem.

Figure 1. The appearance of the utility S & amp; M

order to check both the power adapter provides power to the system components, as well as track the changes in the temperature of these components is useful to another tool - Motherboard Monitor 5 (MBM5, see. Fig. 2).Configure this tool is quite easy, so it from the available list, you can choose your model motherboard or very similar to her.MVM5 started the work with the S & amp; M, in turn tests all system components.

Figure 2. The appearance of the utility MVM5

During the test, you must follow the indications of the temperature sensors DUT.If you check the CPU and the temperature values ​​are in the range 90-100 & amp; degS, after which the system "falls", there is a problem with the CPU.If the temperature does not exceed 80 & amp; degS, you should wait for the test of all subsystems of the processor (if the "show" validation results).If you do not find any problems, run the utility S & amp; M test PSU (Power Supply Unit).It should observe the voltage + 3.3V, + 5V and + 12V If 12 do not turn into 11, and the system unit begins an unexpected reboot, software crash test can be considered successfully passed.

Test on the performance of the hard drive, you can use the utility MHDD (see. Fig. 3).This utility runs only on MS-DOS, the floppy.Alternatively, one or other suitable conventional 'disc doctor ", for example, from a kit Norton Utilites.

Figure 3. Appearance MNDD

utility to check the functioning of the graphics card need a utility for monitoring and tuning video.One of these utilities - RivaTuner (see. Fig. 4).You can use it to track the dynamics of the temperature of the GPU and the video card, but also try to reduce the clock speeds of the GPU and video memory.

Figure 4. Appearance utility RivaTuner

If the transfer of the accelerator in the low-speed and safe mode problem disappears, it means that the problem is in the hardware, that is,in the graphics card itself.Otherwise, try removing the existing video card drivers and put more fresh, or, conversely, older drivers.If replacing the driver does not work, you should try to time to change the graphics card to a similar, but obviously working, or put suspicious graphics card into another computer and test it there.